In the second part of this guide I will be migrating my online issuing CA to Windows Server 2016. As before this guide is written as a guide to upgrade from a Windows Server 2012 R2 CA to a Windows Server 2016 CA, however it is equally valid for moving a CA from any older version of Windows server to Windows Server 2016.

The majority of the steps in this guide are identical to the steps for the offline root CA, however there are a few differences as this is a domain joined system and at the end of the guide you will need to re-register any certificate templates you have.

Preparation

Start by building your new Windows Server 2016 server. I recommend again that you give it the same name as your current issuing CA, although it is possible to change it if you are willing to modify some registry keys later on in the process. If you do give this server the same name do not join it to the domain yet. This will be done later in the guide once the existing issuing CA has been removed from the domain. You should also patch the new server with the latest Microsoft patches at this time.

Migration – Backing up your existing issuing CA server

The first step is to back up the CA using the command certutil -backup C:\SubCABackup KeepLog. If you do not care about keeping the logs then you can omit the KeepLog part and instead the logs will be truncated.

You will need to enter a password, remember it and make it complex as this backup contains your issuing CA private key.

The next thing to backup is the CA configuration, which is stored in the registry in the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CertSvc. Back it up by typing reg export "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CertSvc" C:\SubCABackup\CertSvcRegBackup.reg

You now also need to make a record of what certificate templates you have created as these will need to be re-registered on the new CA. The easiest way to do this is to run the command Certutil -catemplates > "C:\SubCABackup\Catemplates.txt". This pipes the output to a file called Catemplates.txt which you can open later to see the names of the templates.

It is also worth backing up your CAPolicy.inf file which you can do easily enough by copying it into the backup folder by typing copy C:\Windows\CAPolicy.inf C:\SubCABackup.

Once you have done the work to backup your existing issuing CA it is time to uninstall the CA role. Before doing this run Get-WindowsFeature in Powershell and have a look at what additional CA features you currently have installed (for example you may have the Web Enrolment service and/or Online Responder roles installed). Make a note of these so that you know what features to install on the new issuing CA server.

To uninstall the certificate authority role use the Powershell command Remove-WindowsFeature Adcs-Cert-Authority and press enter. If you did have any additional CA roles installed you may need to remove those first; in my case I had to remove the Web Enrollment service (this was done by running Uninstall-AdcsWebEnrollment).

You will need to restart the server to complete the role uninstall.

It is now important that you copy the SubCABackup folder to your new issuing CA as the next step is to remove the existing issuing CA from the domain and power it down.

To remove the old issuing CA from the domain using Powershell type Remove-Computer HOSTNAME replacing HOSTNAME with the name of your issuing CA. Restart the server to complete the domain removal and then power down the old issuing CA.

Load Active Directory Users and Computer from a management workstation and delete the computer account for the old issuing CA.

Migration – Configuring your new issuing CA and restoring from the backup

Power on your new issuing CA and join it to the domain. You can do this from Powershell by typing in Add-Computer –DomainName yourdomain.com -Credential YOURDOMAIN\Administrator replacing the domain with your domain and the admin account with your admin account. Restart the server to complete the domain join.

Once the reboot has completed you must install the CA role. Do this using Powershell by typing in Add-WindowsFeature ADCS-Cert-Authority and pressing enter. As with the root CA this now needs to be configured using the backup from the old issuing CA, which you do with the following Powershell command:

Replace the value after -CertFile with the path and name of the .p12 file from your issuing CA backup. When you press enter you will be prompted for the password you used to back up your original issuing CA.

If this step is successful you will receive ErrorID 0 as your return code.

Next you need to restore the database and logs. Before you do this the CA service must be stopped. Do that by typing in net stop certsvc and pressing enter. Once it has stopped restore the database and logs using the command certutil -f -restore C:\SubCABackup. The -f forces an overwrite of the data that was configured in the barebones CA setup. Once again you must enter the password you used to backup your original issuing CA.

Before starting the CA service you must import the registry configuration. If you opted to change the name of your issuing CA server you need to go through the C:\SubCABackup\CertSvcRegBackup.reg file and replace and reference to the old server name with your new server name. Once this is done you can import the configuration by typing reg import "C:\SubCABackup\CertSvcRegBackup.reg".

Finish up the restoration process by copying the CAPolicy.inf file back into the Windows directory by using the command copy C:\SubCABackup\CAPolicy.inf C:\Windows

One final thing

There may be one other thing you need to consider before you can start your new issuing CA and that is the location of the web CRL. This is a website that is likely hosted inside your network that contains an up to date certificate revocation list which your issuing CA needs to have access to before it will start. This may not be a problem for you at all if your web CRL is hosted on an separate web server that you did not touch during this migration. However, if like me your web CRL is hosted on your issuing CA, this will have been lost when you decommissioned your previous issuing CA.

To resolve this you will need to install IIS on your new issuing CA and configure a new site to host your CRL. The URL to the CRL must match the previously configured CRL location, so if it used to be accessible via http://PKI.yourdomain.com then it must still be accessible there now. You can find the URL for your CRL by looking at any certificate issued by your CA, going to the Details pane and looking at the CRL Distribution Points field.

Restoring your certificate templates

With everything else done you can now start your new issuing CA by typing in net start certsrv. Now you will need to re-register each of the certificate templates you had on your previous issuing CA. Open the Catemplates.txt file you saved by typing notepad Catemplates.txt and use it as a reference for the names for each of your templates. You will need to run the following command for each one:

certutil -setcatemplates +TEMPLATENAME

Replace TEMPLATENAME with the name of your certificate template. Note that + before the template name.

Do this for each of your templates. Once completed all of your templates will be available again and all issuing permissions will be retained.

That completes the process of migrating your issuing CA to a new server. If you have multiple issuing CA servers you will need to repeat this process for each of them. You may also need to reinstall any additional certificate service roles such as Web Enrollment1, which you can do either in Powershell or by using a management workstation with Server Manager. You should make sure you delete the C:\SubCABackup folder so that you don’t leave your issuing CA private key laying around.

As part of my efforts to upgrade my POC lab to Windows Server 2016 I got around to migrating my PKI infrastructure. This consists of an offline root CA and an online issuing CA. In Part 1 of this guide I will be migrating my offline root CA to Windows Server 2016.

This guide is written as a guide to upgrade from a Windows Server 2012 R2 CA to a Windows Server 2016 CA, however very little has changed since the Windows Server 2003 days and this guide is equally valid for moving a CA from any older version of Windows server to Windows Server 2016.

I am a big advocate of the core versions of Windows Server and in this guide I will be migrating from and to Windows Server core. A CA is a perfect example of a server that does not need the overhead of the GUI and additional services that comes with the full GUI edition of Windows Server and if you don’t already use core for your CA, this is a perfect opportunity to migrate to one!

Preparation

In preparation for the migration build your new Windows Server 2016 server. I recommend that you give it the same name as your current root CA server – it is possible to give it a different name however this will require changing registry keys later on in the migration process. Take this opportunity to patch it with the latest Microsoft patches!

Migration – Backing up your existing root CA server

The first step is to back up the CA using the command certutil -backup C:\RootCABackup KeepLog. Note that the KeepLog part is optional, however without it the backup will truncate the logs. I prefer to bring the whole lot across in case the logs are ever needed in the future for auditing purposes.

You will need to enter a password, remember it and make it complex. This backup contains your root CA private key, do not make it easy for an attacker to obtain.

The next thing to backup is the CA configuration, which is stored in the registry in the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CertSvc. Back it up by typing reg export "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CertSvc" C:\RootCABackup\CertSvcRegBackup.reg

Additionally it is worth backing up your CAPolicy.inf file which you can do easily enough by copying it into the backup folder, by typing copy C:\Windows\CAPolicy.inf C:\RootCABackup

Finally, copy the RootCABackup folder to your new CA.

Migration – Configuring your new root CA and restoring from the backup

Log on to your new root CA server and start by installing the CA role. The easiest way to do this is with PowerShell, so type powershell into your administrative CMD prompt and enter the following command to install the CA role: Add-WindowsFeature ADCS-Cert-Authority

Now configure this new CA using the backup of the old CA. This can also be done with PowerShell using the following command:

Replace the value after -CertFile with the path and name of the .p12 file from your root CA backup. When you press enter you will be prompted for the password you used to back up your original root CA.

If this step is successful you will receive ErrorID 0 as your return code.

This restores the root CA private key, however next you need to restore the database and logs. Before you do this the CA service must be stopped. Do that by typing in net stop certsvc and pressing enter. Once it has stopped restore the database and logs using the command certutil -f -restore C:\RootCABackup. The -f forces an overwrite of the data that was configured in the barebones CA setup. Once again you must enter the password you used to backup your original root CA.

Do not start the certificate authority service just yet! Before doing that the registry settings from the previous root CA need to be restored. Do this by typing reg import "C:\RootCABackup\CertSvcRegBackup.reg"

Note: If you chose to change the name of your root CA server you will need to go through the values in this registry file and change any reference to the old server name to your new server name before importing it.

Finally copy the CAPolicy.inf file back into the Windows directory by using the command copy C:\RootCABackup\CAPolicy.inf C:\Windows

Now you can start the root CA by typing net start certsrv. The service should start with out any issues. To verify this you should log on to a management workstation and load the Certificate Authority MMC snap-in, connect to the new server and verify that your issued / revoked certificates are listed (as this is a root CA there should be very few issued certificates!)

Once you are satisfied that the new server is configured correctly and working, make sure that you delete the C:\RootCABackup folder. As previously mentioned, this contains your root CA private key, you do not want to leave that laying around!

Coming soon is Part 2, which will focus on migrating the issuing certificate authority. Thankfully the steps for this are very similar with only small differences due to it being a domain joined server.